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anonymous 24 May 2004

if I pick one of these up,is it best to switch out the tubes with others?what other tubes?

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anonymous Wed, 05/26/2004 - 11:57

Thanks who is helping me on this post.?Wow I dig this Preamp real tubey sounding but in a good way.Wonder what it would sound like with a mod---Oh Man i just found out that Audio Upgrades does the mod for 475$ thats alot of money .he puts jensen transfomers and MIT capacitors new tubes and some other stuff

sdelsolray Wed, 05/26/2004 - 12:19

mikE@THECAVE wrote: Thanks who is helping me on this post.?Wow I dig this Preamp real tubey sounding but in a good way.Wonder what it would sound like with a mod---Oh Man i just found out that Audio Upgrades does the mod for 475$ thats alot of money .he puts jensen transfomers and MIT capacitors new tubes and some other stuff

Probably worth it. Dunno how much you paid for the Peavy, but assuming about $700, you'd end up with a great keeper pre for about $1,200.

anonymous Wed, 05/26/2004 - 17:25

mikE@THECAVE wrote: I got the pre for 400$ ----I had just been searching the net for info and all of a sudden there it was.That happen to me on a guitar a while back--perfect timing I couldn't let that go

I see some guys trying to sell these for $1,000. The norm is about $700 as sdelsolray mentioned. Great find!

I'd go for the mod if I was going to keep it. Skip the mod if I might sell after a couple of years 'cause I doubt you'd get your money back out of it.

anonymous Thu, 05/27/2004 - 15:05

I was just sitting here thinking the same thing.New tubes come with the upgrade electro harmonics i think 9$ a piece.What do you think would be the most sound changeing part of the upgrade?The jensen trannys??- one guy said he put mullards on the output and it sounded real nice.There are 4 per channel --One 12at7 on each of the ouputs--total 8--the other 6 are 12ax7

anonymous Sat, 05/29/2004 - 06:30

I talked with Jim at Audio Upgrades awhile back on the VMP-2 mod for mine. As others have reported, Jim's description of the mod is quite extensive and he puts alot of work into it apparently. I recall that the price of the mod - as quoted by Jim - was around $400.00 due to the amount of work and cost of parts that go into it. I love the sound of the VMP as is but having had my Masterlink mod'd by Jim I'd imagine his AMR mod is quality and probably makes the pre sound even better.

anonymous Sun, 05/30/2004 - 09:13

Bought mine used so it's got whatever tubes came stock with it probably. Haven't cracked it open yet so I'm not sure. I've got some Ruby's, Sovtek's and some GT's lying around that I figured I'd experiment with. Haven't gotten around to it yet but I'm kinda getting the itch to try it.

Pretty hard to go wrong with Mullard's and Telefunken's. Thing is, there's more to tube pre's than the tubes. Lots of other stuff in front of and behind the tubes that all have an impact on the sound and performance. IIRC, Jim's mod swaps a number of the caps to film versions to make the pre "faster" - basically it responds quicker to incoming signals I think. So just changing the tubes may not have a big impact on how the thing sounds. Just guessing here, though, since I've not tried it yet.

anonymous Sun, 05/30/2004 - 13:38

I've talked to Jim and he said its alot clearer with the mod .And thats before you turn up the high Eq.--Also i found out on the Net that the 1/4 in. outputs bypass the output transformer and give you a much better signal.Dont close it up in a rack cause it gets to hot .I heard one caught fire.
You probably have the china tubes in yours,thats what mine has in it.Are you gunna have the MOD done .Why dont you go for it???I cant see that id ever sell it even without the mod.Ill bet with the Mod it would be like a 3000$ unit

anonymous Tue, 06/01/2004 - 06:45

Cash availability is on the short side right now or I probably would do the mod. As I mentioned earlier, Jim mod'd my Masterlink and it's a whole new machine. Sounds incredible. Use it for two-track mixdowns at 24/96 off my board and it's just amazing.

I've got my VMP racked but it's got 2U worth of space above and below it and the rack is well vented. It does indeed get toasty but I've not had any problems with it over heating. This thread has definitely got me interested in trying some different tubes though. Got a session later today and if I've got some time I might throw the Ruby's in for grins.

anonymous Tue, 06/01/2004 - 09:59

Just wondering --what did jim do to your masterlink and what model does he upgrade.Can i get an older model with the same sound quality.I was thinking of getting one for the same 96k mixdown.
Let me know what the tube change does for the sound.Is one tube for input one for high eq -one for low eq and one for output.Is that the way it works.

anonymous Wed, 06/02/2004 - 12:50

Not sure if this is what you meant, but there's no tubes in the Masterlinks. Jim's Masterlink mod improves the A/D conversion on the units pretty significantly by replacing certain components with better quality ones. Specifically, here's what Jim does the the ML's:

- install National LM6172 dual opamps at 3000/us slew rate.

- install larger Rubycon Z series electrolytic caps to extend the low end (and did it ever!!)

- install .01 uf wima poly caps on the input, MIT's on the output.

- increased the power supply bypass caps and installed .1 uf mono ceramic bypasses.

- Bandwidth limiting caps were used on certain stages.

- The opamps used as followers were cut and changed to closed loop buffers.

The mod is $200.00 (plush shipping to and from Audio Upgrades). I believe it can be done to any ML but I'd recommend you verify that with Jim.

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